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Diary of a Twilight LightWing
Ok, this is a collab fanfic with TreeDragon, User:Daybreak the Traveler, EnigmaTheHybrid, and Mango the rainwing = Prologue = A deep purple egg rested under the soft light of two full moons, the shell emitting a dark glow as it had begun to crack. It had been sitting there for the last three nights, the moons waxing as it approached the night it would finally break open. A small crack that had been forming grew every minute, under the worried, watchful eyes of two dragons. The egg shook a little with a slight “TAP TAP TAP” warranting a small gasp from one of the larger dragons. Another splinter appeared, this time vertical, from top to bottom. “TAP TAP TAP” it kicked again, this time with more force, enough force to break a larger hole in the walls. The top of the egg popped off and a little indigo dragon snout poked out. The rest of the eggshell crumbled into fine flakes as she unfurled her shining wings. She seemed so weak, so fragile, and VULNERABLE. The moonlight shone in her eyes and filled her heart. It was alive, frothing at the edges, gleaming brighter than a diamond. It was pure white, whiter than snow, and brighter than everything in the world. It was light and dark, yin and yang. The dragonet’s eyes reflected the moons. The larger dragons stood to the side, confused about their dragonet. The moons were her world, they invited her to share their light, and she accepted. But her heart declined… her world tremored ever so slightly… then her heart clenched and shook the light bottled up inside it. The light pushed back, struggling to escape, to fill the dragonet’s body, but the heart squeezed tighter. The light was trapped, the heart had won, and it was evil, it was invading, and the light was helpless. The light turned first light grey, then dark grey, then mottled into deep, midnight blue. The moons in her eyes looked on, not doing anything. Then clouds covered the moons and the heart stopped. The light was a dark blue, so dark, it was almost black. It was ink, it was mold, it was anything but light. It was evil. The dragonet wasn’t aware of this. Her world had shrunk and she felt a tugging at the back of her brain.'' Kill… kill your parents right now… then you can rule the world…'' She shook her head, a sluggish and drunken movement. Talons reached out to her, iridescently blue, warm, inviting. She snuggled into them. “She’s so delicate.” whispered the bigger, warmer figure. “Yes, Mozart. It’s too bad she’s Twilight-Blessed… it’s so sad…” replied the smaller, blue figure. Her face wore a hint of sadness as she looked upon the newly hatched dragonet. “What should we name her?” asked the dragon who was apparently named Mozart. He looked at the female dragon with a questioning look, flaring his wings a little as he spoke. The female looked up at the sky, thinking it over with a talon to her chin. “Melanoid, she’s exactly the color.” she answered finally, a glint of moonlight shone in her eyes as she got the name, bouncing off her claw as she raised it in her decision. The dragonet, only a few minutes old, struggled already. She struggled against the black light, she struggled against the white light. A Twilight-Blessed, born under two full moons, not nearly a cursed, but not a blessed either. A gray line, not evil, nor good. Her life would be nothing more than a troubled soul struggling through the world. One year later… “I said NO, and that’s final!” It was the Moon Festival, and the Induction Festival for Melanoid, they had waited 50 minutes at the palace temple, and now the high priest was shoving them out. All because Melanoid was a Twilight-Blessed LightWing. “No!” repeated the priest. “Get that devil out of this holy place!” screamed the priest, his eyes wild. He rushed the two dragons out, pushing them with his talons, flapping his wings furiously. Diffuse took Melanoid in her talons and flew away quickly, tears dripping from her eyes like silver crystals, shining in the moonlight. The two flew, Diffuse practically dragging her daughter along with her, speaking angrily under her breath. Melanoid looked up at Diffuse, probably wondering why her mother was so angry and sad, at the same time. But she couldn’t understand what she was saying, as the wind blew most of her words away, so Melanoid tried to do the same with her thoughts. The mother and daughter flew home silently, talon in talon, both crying the whole way there. Back home, under the warm, glowing lights of their cave home, Melanoid looked up at Diffuse, trying to ask what was wrong. Diffuse looked down at Melanoid, arching her neck at an angle as she faced mostly away from Melanoid, but said nothing, leaving the room with a distressed, yet cold stare. Melanoid’s eyes filled with tears and pooled over as she looked at her talons. “Mama!” she whimpered. All Diffuse did was sigh as she sulked down the hall. Melanoid turned and ran to the cave entrance, sitting on a stone right outside it. Suddenly, claw scrapes grabbed Melanoid’s attention as another dragon landed beside her, a white LightWing, practically glowing in the moonlight, with a full feathered set of cream colored wings. “WOW! You have SUCH COOL SCALES!” said the LightWing, awed by Melanoid’s shimmering indigo scales. ”I wish MY scales were like that, I’m SOOOO tired of these white scales!” Melanoid stared at her in shock for a moment, wondering who this dragon was, until she noticed her fully feathered wings.”Are you… heaven blessed?” the deep indigo LightWing questioned. “Yeah!” replied the other LightWing energetically. “I’m Symphony! And you are?” Melanoid blinked for a moment. ”I’m Melanoid…” she answered slightly shyly. “WOW!” exclaimed Symphony again,“What a cool name!” She smiled warmly at Melanoid, her feathered tail sweeping from side to side slightly, brushing dust and small rocks aside. Melanoid felt as though for the first time in her life, things were going to be okay. She had a friend by her side now. ' ' = Chapter 1: = Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, Who’s the Jerkiest of Them All? “Get up, get up, get up!” An iridescent talon pulled the dark blankets off of Melanoid’s curled body and a cheerful voice yelled in Melanoid’s ear. It was her first day at Jade Mountain Creative Middle School, and Symphony was already bugging her. Melanoid whined and reached for the blankets that were clearly out of her grasp, the light made her eyes retreat and blinded her for a moment. “Ughh… Symphony!” the sleepy LightWing complained, ”Why so early!?” “Because! It’s your FIRST DAY at a NEW SCHOOL!” explained Symphony, as if that was the truth of the matter. “Ah, school shmool” scowled Melanoid, already covering her face with her dark feathery wings. Their third roommate, Stingray, let out a snarly growl, trying to keep his ears covered, but finally cracking into a loud yell. “KEEP IT DOWN OVER THERE, SOME PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO SLEEP!” Melanoid mentally sighed. The best way to start out a new school term-waking up early then making your roommate hate you in a few seconds. The twilight dragon peeked a glare at her ghostly white friend,”You just want the early breakfast don’t you?” Symphony grinned, never lying, always pure. Sometimes Melanoid felt so… petty, dark, unholy next to Symphony, the perfect Heaven-Blessed LightWing. They’d made trouble as children in their village, and finally Symphony’s mother discouraged her from hanging out with Melanoid. Symphony had refused, and they both passed the entrance tests to JMCMS. Then, after Symphony’s mother and Diffuse had a falling out, Melanoid and Symphony ran away to JMCMS. But all that was in the past, Melanoid needed to focus on the present, and currently Symphony was dragging her out of her bed by her wings. The twilight-blessed LightWing let out a sigh, and finally got up, snatching her wing back out of Symphony’s talons. Melanoid let out a huff as she did, but couldn’t hold back a snort of laughter. Symphony laughed, a high, melodious sound, “I just knew you’d cave in! Now, let’s get dressed and go to breakfast!” It seemed that Symphony’s upbeat attitude was infectious, for Melanoid cracked a rare smile and pulled open their closet. Three dark brown capes along with their student medallions were inside, and Symphony took two out, throwing them on her and Melanoid. “Let’s check our winglet first before breakfast, though…” cautioned Melanoid, “Don’t want to risk insulting the wrong dragon.” They made their way down to the entrance, where the great list of students floated, an animus-touched gift from Princess Anemone. The student roster changed every year, and you could see your name highlighted. Melanoid peered intently at the scroll, scanning the names quickly until she came across her highlighted name. She looked at the column it was under, “Winglet: Amethyst”. While she already knew that she and Symphony were in the same winglet, she hadn’t expected so MANY dragonets, too. She knew Stingray, but Froth? Hurricane? Peregrine? Who were these dragons? Melanoid continued to read the list of classmates: Limestone, Stork, Quartz, Brinicle, Ivy, Camomile, Nile, Libya, Destinyweaver, Dreamcatcher. These were the dragons she was going to take class with the next 2 years and it already they all seemed intimidating, just from their names alone. She felt a little dizzy, backing up through the crowd, being drowned out by the wings and chattering voices of them. She shook her head and tried to regain balance, though ended up stepping on someone’s talon. “Hey! Watch it!” barked the dragon, causing a jump in Melanoid. “Oh um…” Melanoid trailed off as she looked into the furious RainWing’s face. “Kid, you almost made me drop my breakfast!” growled the RainWing, who’s wings were starting to shade black and orange. Not a good combo! thought Melanoid. “Um… I’m really sorry about that!” she exclaimed, bowing. “Are you OK? I wasn’t looking where I was going, it’s all my fault!” The RainWing took in a deep breath and let it out, instantly calmer, her scales shifting through various colors before landing on a soft baby blue and lavender color. “Yes I’m fine, I’m fine, don’t worry,” she said calmly with a relaxed sigh, “Mistakes happen.” “Oh, good! I’m so relieved!” said Melanoid with a sigh of relief, holding a talon up to her heart. “CHAMOMILE! ARE YOU OKAY?” a dark green dragon came pushing through the crowd, a worried expression on her face. “I heard you yell, did this dragon do something to you?” The new dragon glared at Melanoid, and the dark LightWing shrunk inwards, wishing she could be somewhere else. “No, she didn’t do anything! I’m fine, Ivy, you can stop worrying!” While Chamomile said this with an eye roll, Ivy’s face relaxed and she dragged Chamomile to the tables by her arm. Melanoid felt tired after that experience, the rush of fear she’d felt during that really wore her out. I think I need some early breakfast now… she thought, staring at nothing as she recollected her thoughts. Then suddenly she realized she had left Symphony alone, worry drowned her thoughts and emotions as she looked around the crown frantically. The bustling wave of colors and scales made her feel lost and uneasy, panic building up in the pit of her stomach. She wandered around a little, craning her neck as high as she could, barely seeing the tops of each dragon’s head. “Symphony!” Melanoid called out, “Symphony where are you?” She tried to raise her wings but it was too cramped to properly take off, so she waded towards the edge of the crowd, calling out for Symphony, and hoping for some breathing room. Finally, she spotted cream-colored, feathered wings. “Oh, thank god I found you, Symphony!” she rushed over to the dragon, but when the LightWing turned around, it wasn’t Symphony. “Oh, uh, um… sorry! I thought you were somebody else!” Embarrassed, Melanoid turned around to run, but the LightWing stopped her. The LightWing’s face was twisted with disgust. “You’re that Twilight-Blessed LightWing! I heard you were born under two full moons. Doesn’t that make you… evil?” she said the last word with a sneer. “No, I’m NOT evil!” Melanoid cried out,”Nobody thinks so!” She ruffled her dark feathered wings, letting out a slightly stronger glow of blacklight. The LightWing rolled her eyes,“Oh, PUH-LEEZE. If I think so, then you are! After are, I AM the daughter of the high priest.” She puffed out her chest in pride at the last statement, boasting a smug grin on her face. The Twilight-blessed LightWing tried hard to hold back tears, thoughts racing past faster than she could process, her heart beginning to pound faster and faster as anger, fear, and sadness started swelling within. “I-I’m not…” Melanoid started but got cut off by her own sniffling,”I’m not evil!” She began to slowly back away from the harsh LightWing, tears starting to break through. “Well if my ‘pa says so then it's true!” she spat, starting to stalk forward, raising her wings and holding her head high. “I say that evil little runts like you shouldn’t even be allowed to live with the rest of us normal dragons!” Melanoid started backing up faster, shrinking lower and lower into herself, breathing faster and faster. “They should’ve thrown you off the tallest spire when they had the chance!” the LightWing growled and lunged her head lower at Melanoid, eye-to-eye, her toothy sneer intimidating Melanoid from fighting back. The eyes of a few witnesses looked on from behind the LightWing. The LightWing raised a talon, claws sharp and glinting in the sunlight. In what felt like slow motion, it rushed down straight for Melanoid’s face, and she couldn’t duck, she was too scared, she was going to die at the hands of this dragon. Then like a bolt of lightning, something barreled into the LightWing. Melanoid cowered in a ball and screamed. The two dragons wrestled, snarling and snapping at each other, battling in a blur of white and cream scales. They carried on for a short while, rolling towards the surprised eyes of the crowd, until finally, with a good-placed punch, the new dragon took out the bully. The dragon stood up, backing away from the other LightWing, turning towards Melanoid, with a grin Melanoid saw every day-Symphony's grin. Sometimes it seemed that Symphony always came to her rescue, that Melanoid owed Symphony a life debt. “Melanoid! Please, are you alright?” Symphony asked, worry taking all priority to her emotions. Melanoid was scared and shaking, but she nodded. “T-t-thank you so much, Symphony!” Melanoid breathed out through a startled breath. She inched closer to Symphony for comfort. Symphony scowled at the bully, “What’d she say to you?” she asked, her eyes hooded, meaning business. “Ju-just that I should have been thrown off of a spire!” With that, Melanoid started bawling, and Symphony wrapped her warm, feathery wings around her. “Shh, it’s alright,” Symphony cradled her like some newly hatched dragonet, which made Melanoid feel a little weaker, but comforted. ”Next time, fight back! I’ll always be with you!” the glowing LightWing smiled at her, radiating a warm feeling of safety. Melanoid sniffed once more, then nodded gratefully. 5 feet away, the bully started to stand up. “A Heaven-Blessed LightWing!” she sniffed, more in surprise than in contempt. “Are you really happy like that? Hanging out with that disgraceful… evil… thing?!” the LightWing bully sneered,”Oh! By the way, I’m Convex! Would you like to hang out with me sometime?” This complete turn around confused Melanoid for a moment, then she realized she just wanted to look good. Melanoid narrowed her eyes at Convex. Symphony stepped up to face Convex. “NO, I would NOT like to hang out. You are a twisted, smelly, dung-filled, chicken-feathered, camel-faced blob of fish spit!!! YOU are the evil one here!!!” Convex glared at Symphony, then suddenly stiffened. The crowd murmured and parted like the sea. Three dragons, one deep blue, one brown, and one oddly golden stood in front of them. It seemed as though they emitted a regal glow, and made dragons respect them. The brown one had a deep, mangled, scar on the leg, and the golden one was smaller than the average dragon. Melanoid knew who they were, they were three of the Dragonets of Destiny, the founders of JMCMS. “Hello, students. We heard a commotion, and decided to come over. What’s going on?” queried the golden one, Sunny. Convex scrambled back, pointed a shaking talon at Melanoid. “She-she started it!” cried Convex. Symphony roared. “No, SHE DID!” “SHE DID!” Convex accused. “No, I DID NOT!” Melanoid yelped in her defense. Finally, Clay stepped in between them, using his wings to separate them,“Hey, hey, settle down! What really started this?” He gave an inquisitive look with his deep brown eyes, staring at all three of the LightWings. Melanoid stepped up timidly. “Um, sir…” Clay smiled gently at her. “Yes, Melanoid?” The deep indigo dragon shuffled her talons,“Um… Convex told me I should have been thrown off a tower when I was born... because I’m Twilight-Blessed.” Tears started welling up again and her voice wavered. Convex glared at Melanoid,“Don’t believe her, sir! She was born under two full moons! She’s EVIL!” Convex looked desperate, desperate to be right, she seemed to feel like she was right, even though everyone around knew she was far from it. Tsunami shoved Convex back and bared her teeth menacingly at her. “Two months of lunchtime detention for you, Convex!” the SeaWing princess roared at her,“Don’t bully Melanoid, she’s a perfectly fine, young dragonet, very smart for her age! She’s no more a devil than you are!” Convex jerked back,“My father will be hearing about this! You don’t want to get on my father’s bad side!” Tsunami rolled her eyes and blew a raspberry at Convex,“We’re the Dragonets of Destiny. We RUN this school, so your father doesn’t have ANY authority over us! Besides, two of us are royalty, and that’s higher than your father.” Tsunami took another step forward, threateningly. “Tsunami, please calm down,” Sunny interjected with a small stressed smile. She turned to Melanoid, “Melanoid, if someone bullies you, come to us first, okay?” she placed a warm golden wing on Melanoid’s shoulder,”We’ll resolve it much better than an all out fight.” Sunny looked at Symphony, but didn’t bother to direct it at her. Sunny stood upright, holding her wings up high, glowing with the sunlight that poured in from the gaping entrance,”Now we don’t want to see anymore fighting okay? Symphony, you get two weeks of detention too, okay?” All three of the LightWings nodded reluctantly, even Convex, who clearly hated it the most, leering at Melanoid from the side while Symphony grumbled something under her breath about being noble. “Alright!” Clay said cheerfully, and quite loudly,”Let’s have a great school year!” He shouted out to the crowd, followed by loud cheers of excitement and agreement before the crowd began to split up. “Tsunami here will pass out your class schedules, ok?” As he spoke, the deep blue SeaWing was passing the neatly stacked, beige scrolls out to various students. She tossed Melanoid, Symphony, and Convex copies of them too-the last one with a scowl. Melanoid and Symphony walked side by side into the halls, quiet as they could get with all these dragons bustling around. Melanoid looked up at Symphony, then down to her front talons,”Thank you again.. for saving me.” “It's no problem,” Symphony said, giving a warming smile,”That feather-face should’ve kept her mouth shut, she doesn’t understand that you’re the best friend ever!” She laughed a little, and Melanoid felt a little better, but those words echoed in her head. Was she really an evil dragon? When she hatched… the two moons… she remembered the light and her heart clashing, and the light turning a deep indigo color, same as her scales. But if she could just forget… Melanoid stuffed those memories down and tried to focus on the present. Because now, she thought,'' my school year's beginning.'' = Chapter 2 = New Classroom, New Faces Melanoid and Symphony were nervous. Actually, it was Melanoid who was nervous, Symphony was in high spirits, as usual. They were walking along the hallways of JMCMS, and unrolling their course scrolls. “Why... WHY are our course scrolls so BIG?” cried Melanoid, her talons fumbling around with the long scroll, almost tripping over it as she was focused on only the words. “Because they want us to learn a lot!” said Symphony, trying her best to lighten the situation. “You always think because they do this and this is a verifiable reason!” grumbled Melanoid, under her breath. Symphony rolled her eyes, “You’ll be thanking them when you’re older and wiser,” the white dragon giggled a little. Melanoid huffed at that statement, leaning closer and closer, running her eyes back and forth down the paper, muttering the courses listed on it. Then she suddenly gasped in excitement,”AhAH! I found it!” Melanoid crowed, pointing a claw at one line,”First period: pre-algebra!” She smiled proudly at her success, having her eyes closed and had completely stopped in her tracks to point it out. The heaven-blessed LightWing stared back at her for a quiet moment of confusion,”But… I thought the Winglet Introduction was first today…?” Melanoid dropped the scroll on her foot, which elicited a loud yowl of pain. “The… WINGLET INTRODUCTIONS?!” Melanoid started shaking, muttering something about her severe case of glossophobia. Symphony stared in disbelief at the dragon, “Melanoid… it’s just an introduction!” she reasoned,”Have you forgotten that this will be your chance to show that you’re not evil, and that you’re perfectly harmless?!” The words got through to Melanoid, who in turn stopped pacing and looked back at her friend, then slowly started to shake her worried head. “I know, Symphony,” Melanoid said, breathing in deeply in an attempt to calm herself down. “OK, calm down, Melanoid! It’s just an introduction,” she began talking to herself, “just an introduction that will have like 15 other dragons i-in there, ju-” She was cut off by Symphony putting her talons on Melanoid’s shoulders and shaking her, “Girl, calm down!” She put one wing onto Melanoid’s shoulder,”It’s only your first day, and even if it goes bad, well, then you’ll just have to try harder to make tomorrow even better!” Symphony sympathized, giving a good shake of her balled up talon in the air. “Don’t worry so much, it scares me too, okay?” and with that, they continued down the halls. They had arrived at the entrance to their classroom, where snippets of loud conversation and giggling floated from the roughly carved parabolic door that stood ajar. Symphony gave Melanoid a big push, and she stumbled inside,“Go get ‘em!” she whisper-yelled. As Melanoid regained her balance, Symphony slipped in with her, and slowly, the classroom began to hush. 15 heads turned towards them as they stood side by side, Symphony with a big, toothy grin and Melanoid with a slight grimace. “Class, these two LightWings are Symphony and Melanoid.” said the larger, wispy blue dragon at the front in a soft monotone. Murmurs filled the classroom again,”What’s with them?” “Why’re their wings all FEATHERY? Weird!” “Hey, that indigo one looks so gloomy!” “Wait, are they dating?” The words surrounded Melanoid and paralyzed her with fear. Gloomy. Gloomy. Weird. Weird. Gloomy. Gloomy. It echoed in her head, bouncing off of the walls of her brain. “Class, listen up! Gather in a circle, and introduce yourself, and add one special thing about yourself.” The 14 younger dragons, all dressed in their school issued capes and golden medallions, settled in a circle without complaint. “Stingray, why don’t you go first?” suggested the teacher. Wasn’t her name um… wait a sec… what did it say on the scroll? Oh yeah! Mantas! thought Melanoid, analyzing the dragons around her with a hint of fear. She saw dragons of all tribes, some SeaWing, some RainWing, even a few NightWings. A SeaWing stepped forward, raising his head to speak, Melanoid noticed that this was their roommate that yelled at them earlier. “I’m Stingray of the SeaWings, and I’m really, really good at swimming long distances.” he sat back down as quickly as he could, looking at the others, several of them having a ‘that’s fairly obvious’ look on their faces. Melanoid didn’t have to be a mind reader to know this. “Ah that’s very interesting Stingray, thank you,” Mantas spoke quite blandly, as if she couldn’t care what these dragonets said. “Hurricane, why don’t you share next?” the teacher offered with a flick of her blue tail, looking back down at her shiny, well sharpened claws. A goldfish-orange SkyWing stood up from her spot next to Stingray, her scales glinting and shimmering in the light. “Hey, I’m Hurricane!” she began,“My favorite food is the humble mountain goat! A goat the treks the dangers of nature’s tallest cliffs, braving through the cold and heat, rain and wind! Becoming the bestest strongest goat it can! Until it’s cooked up and put on my plate for dinner~” She gestured through her monologue fairly dramatically, before ending on a low sad bow to the floor. The other classmates stared at her with confusion, one clapping before slowly stopping. “That is all.” Hurricane said sitting back down. Mantas stared up from her talon, a strange weirded out look was all her face wore, “That was… interesting…” She straightened herself once more and called through more students, followed by a much shorter bit of trivia about themselves. “Next up, Chamomile,” the teacher called, looking bored out of her mind. Melanoid noticed the RainWing that stepped up next, her calm blue scales flowing orderly and her wings and frill folded neatly in a relaxed manner. “I’m Chamomile!” she announced quite excitedly despite her calm exterior, “The cute RainWing next to me is Ivy, my girlfriend!” Wh-WHAAAAA?! Melanoid involuntarily squeezed Symphony’s talon. The teacher blinked, and the classroom was thrown into uproar with Chamomile’s announcement. Then, almost instantly after Chamomile announced this, the door burst open,“IVY! What is this I hear about you. Being. GAY!!!?” shouted a bright orange and purple dragon with his frill fully puffed up. He was holding a black spiraled notebook in his hand and appeared to be quite shell-shocked. His wings were flaring, shifting shades of orange to purple to green, his tail lashed furiously. “What the!?” Ivy leaned forward to look at this new dragon,”Where you just sitting out there waiting for something like this!?” She furrowed her brow, glaring at him with a knowing yet furious bond, were they related? Melanoid shrank closer to Symphony, hiding beside her LightWing. “NO!” yelled the other RainWing,”I was passing by and just HAPPENED to hear THAT!” He clenched his notebook, tearing and wrinkling the pages some, his scales flared through some red and green, a kaleidoscope of angry emotions. “UGHH, HELIOTROPE!” Ivy grunted through her teeth, slapping a talon to her face, “Why are you acting like this, I thought you were cool.” Chamomile looked a little uncomfortable through her normally calm self, she held Ivy closer to her using her wing. “I SO AM COOL!” he yelled, loud enough to be heard dimly through the walls of the surrounding classrooms. Heliotrope walked up to his sister, looking at her eye to eye,”The question here is why are YOU like THIS?” he motioned his talon between Ivy and Chamomile dramatically. “This isn’t right… you aren’t right.” “Well if you don’t like it then you can leave,” Ivy let out a low annoyed growl from her throat, the two staring at each other intensely, as if they were going to break into and all out brawl. Chamomile glared protectively at the loud RainWing, ready to protect Ivy if things turned bad. Melanoid hoped no more fights broke out today, she was just recovering from the first one between Symphony and Convex. In a cheap attempt at a comeback, Heliotrope took in a deep upsetted breath and yelled at the top of his lungs, “WELL MAYBE YOU SHOULD LEAVE LIFE!!!” “EXCUSE ME, YOUNG STUDENT. Who do you think YOU are to barge in here hollering at one of MY students like that?!” Mantas finally intervened, narrowing her eyes down her raised nose. Her teeth bared only enough for a glint of sharp pinkish teeth, wings arching up high and fins swept back. The RainWing suddenly shrank back and adorned pale orange and white scales. “Now I’ll expect to have a word with the Dragonets of Destiny about this and have them punish you.” “B-but” He sputtered. “No buts, young dragon!” she said swishing her tail to signal him to be quiet. She headed for the door, sweeping him alongside her with one wing. Mantas turned back to the class with her normal face that now, or at least to Melanoid, look more dignified than bored, “Continue sharing without me class, I’ll be back in a few minutes.” And with a quiet click of the door, they were gone. Melanoid didn’t know whether to feel scared or worried, but it didn’t matter because her mind already made up that she’d feel both. “My moons, that was melodramatic,” Symphony said, breaking the ice that had layered over the entire room of dragonets. She turned to Ivy, “Are you okay?” she asked, giving off that familiar warmth and perfection she had had since birth. A few dragonets let out a couple chuckles, but lay silent. Ivy turned to Symphony, “Oh… yeah… I’m fine thanks,” she smiled, suddenly pulled into her girlfriend’s side by her wing. “Your brother is stuck in the past,” Chamomile reassured her, and a few dragons in the class made awing sounds,”I’m sure someday he’ll at least tolerate it.” Ivy giggled at that last part, then pulled away from her. “Um…” With a slight swishing noise, several of the dragonets that had been whispering in groups together turned their heads at that meek announcement. A dark tan dragonet stood at the front, her talons raised. Paler yellow diamonds dotted the undersides of her wings, and her back-like the infamous princess Blister’s, except less sinister, Melanoid observed. “Well… why don’t we just sit in a circle, and go around again?” suggested the SandWing, a beautiful pale pink blush spreading across the bridge of her snout. Everything about her was graceful, and pale, like an IceWing, though Melanoid knew Symphony was sure to come up with a better comparison. Half of the dragonets in the room immediately sat down where they had been tentatively waiting, and the other half glanced at each other snootily, like they were too proud to follow the orders of a slightly below average-sized, timid SandWing. As usual, Symphony took the lead. “She said, sit. Down.” said Symphony, only the tightness of her limbs and the way she kept her wings folded back carefully betrayed her inner feelings of anger. At Symphony’s quiet threat, the rest of the dragonets scrambled to their places, and the SandWing finally introduced herself. “I’m Nile of the SandWings,” she said, not assertively, but just enough for Melanoid to notice there was a hardness to her voice under that softness, and that toughness said “Keep your grubby talons off me, males. You’ll never get me.” Melanoid didn’t know for certain, but that kind of made her… adorable? Cute? The dark LightWing felt confused looking at her, and tried to think of something else, she looked at Symphony, beginning to feel impure compared to her elegance. No matter what she did at that moment she felt lower and confused. Despite this, she paid attention to what her classmates were saying hoping that she wouldn’t be next for a while. Unfortunately, the dragon next to her had just gone, he had said something about him being Brinicle of the IceWings and his favorite thing to do was secretly ruin an aristocrat IceWing’s possession, and then he had bowed grandly and gestured for Melanoid to start sharing. Melanoid stood up shakily, and her throat started to dry. She looked around tight circle of scales and horns surrounding her, waiting expectantly for her big speech. “Um... “ Melanoid forced her snout into a big, fake smile, trying to make it into an actual smile. Think of something that makes you happy! THINK THINK THINK!!! Her brain screamed into a black void. “I-I’m Melanoid! I’m a Twilight-Blessed LightWing!! Twilight-Blessed are just dragons, like you and I! There’s no reason to be scared!!” Why?! WHY?!!! Why am I acting like this??? Come on, Melanoid, just state your favorite thing already, they’re looking at you with ‘Is that dragon loopy?’ stares!! Mentally biting herself, she took a deep breath and let it out in a whoosh. “My favorite thing to do is… writing, and math I guess.” She sat back down, and as she did she imagined she could hear the other dragons saying “Geek alert! Get back!” and “So WEIRD!”. These pierced her, but the worst thing was that Nile looked at her with a pitying gleam in her eye. The last thing I need on the first day of school is for my potential crush to look down on me! I gotta work harder!! Nervously, Melanoid sat back down, trying not to attract anymore strange looks. However, it was a bit inevitable looking so strange with a black lit aura around her and a pure white LightWing to her side, making her feel even more inferior. She straightened her back and looked over to her friend, who eagerly stood up with a much more believable and sincere smile at the corners of her face. Symphony inhaled and happily said, “Hey, there! I’m Symphony! I’m a Heaven-Blessed LightWing! So I have a couple of similarities to my friend here!” She grinned and looked at Melanoid, making her feel a bit better. “Speaking of which, my favorite thing to do is be buddies and hang out with her!” Symphony beamed, quite literally, in fact with her light aura around her. Suddenly, a satisfying noise of a door opening seemed to fill the room as the teacher entered once again without Heliotrope. Mantas half looked satisfied through her bored seeming movements. “Alright. Has everyone gone, and if not, who still has to go?” A few other students raised their talons. After the last dragonets had finished introducing themselves, Mantas stood up, and said, “Now get into groups of four, and those will be your homeroom groups for the rest of the year.” There was a mad scramble as dragonets tried to pair up with the most popular ones, and in the rush Melanoid and Symphony ended up with Brinicle… and Nile… Melanoid stared at Nile, the fluid way she move was transfixing. Everything about her was, the way she swept her tail along, the way she slinked towards the table… A talon snapped in front of her eyes and she jumped, crossing her eyes at the claws in front of her. “Oi, Melanoid! Wake up!” Brinicle and Nile sniggered and Melanoid felt chills. Symphony moved closer to her and coiled up besides Melanoid, and then she didn’t feel chills-instead she felt like the blood was rushing to her cheeks and her brain, and maybe that as long as she and Symphony stayed like that, everything would be fine. Melanoid obediently did what Symphony had told her to do, blinking a few times and clearing her brain of the pink fog that had taken over. As she half-listened to what the teacher told them to do, she pondered about why she hadn’t thrown up, or fainted, or ran away screaming while she had been introducing herself. She hadn’t really hated it, she’d enjoyed it, a little bit… A faraway look on her face must have given her away, because Symphony was now nudging her wing urgently with a “MELANOID PAY ATTENTION!!!” glare. “What is up with you today, Melonjuice?” she hissed. Ouch, now I have in in for me… Melonjuice was the angry nickname for Melanoid, and Symphony didn’t use it very often-if she used it, then she was big-time pi**ed off at Melanoid. Probably for not paying attention in school when Melanoid was usually a straight-A geek. Melanoid rolled her eyes and turned towards the front, and Mantas’s stormy green eyes met Melanoid’s sea-blue eyes, less than a talonprint away. “AAARRGGH!!!” Melanoid scrambled rapidly backwards until she hit her head against the wall. Mantas stalked towards Melanoid and poked a talon into her chest. “Pay ATTENTION, young dragon!” she growled,”I did not sign up to teach insolent dragonets how to listen to simple instructions of SIT DOWN and INTRODUCE YOURSELF! This is MY class and I will not tolerate any airheadedness!” She held her head up high, looking down her snout,”This is your last warning! Now sit down and PAY ATTENTION!!!” growled the SeaWing, her face twisted in an angry glare. Melanoid scrambled back to her group as Mantas recovered from her squawking scolding amid snickers and pointed looks. She glanced at Symphony, then Brinicle, then to Nile, and saw each of them rolling their eyes, like they were thinking How weird is this dragon? What is wrong with her?. “Now, as Miss Mantas said, we should all introduce ourselves more deeply.” Directed Nile, her wings folded back, sitting on her haunches and making it look elegant and effortless at the same time. Brinicle nodded his head at every word, making Melanoid think he looked like a puppet controlled by Nile, her beauty, and her brains. Now that she thought about it, he WAS like one of those lovesick dragonets that followed the popular girls around back home. Yeesh. Those dragonets are so annoying, Melanoid thought to herself. She took her seat as well next to Symphony, as did Brinicle did (of course right next to Nile). The LightWing thought she looked undignified next to her bubbly friend and exquisite Nile. Melanoid glanced at Brinicle, not realizing how reflective they were, white and glittering. She glanced at Nile once again, realizing the SandWing’s beautiful colored tan scales as well as her graceful build. She looked to her side at Symphony again, realizing there had been a painfully awkward silence in the air, and she hope she’d say something. Finally, as if she read her thoughts, Nile suddenly said, “So,” She made a click noise with her mouth and continued, “As you all know,” ‘or should know’ the look in her eyes said, “My name is Nile. I’m from Lionmane City. A place tucked away in the SandWing kingdom.” She seemed shake her talons as if to remove dirt - or sand, her mind rang as she glanced at her long talons - from them. “Hmm… if we’re going to be in this group, we should get to know each other a bit better, hm?” For some reason, Melanoid liked the sound of that. She faintly saw Brinicle nod and say, “Good plan.” But Melanoid’s mind drifted into being lost in thought, and she struggled until Symphony spoke up. “That sounds like a great plan!” the LightWing said. “Who’s going to start? I’d love to find out more about everyone!” Melanoid felt Symphony nudge her with a feathered tail, which made the Twilight-Blessed LightWing’s head spin in a different way. Everyone thought I was a curse on this world when I hatched under two moons. I’m not insane, but almost no one believed me in the Kingdom of Light. She glanced at her friend. This could be my chance to make everyone believe me! A thought came across her mind of the fight with Convex earlier. Almost everyone. She mentally sighed. “I will, I suppose.” Nile broke Melanoid out of her thoughts. “I guess we can discuss what our favorite things are. Well… My favorite color is a desert sandy yellow… reminds me of home.” She shrugged in a small motion. “Um… ohh, my favorite food is a meerkat. And I also have two older sisters, three brothers about my age, and a younger sister as well as my mother.” “Very nice!” Brinicle suddenly said, gathering a few looks. “My favorite color is yellow, too! Not much of it in the IceWing Kingdom, however, heh… heheh.” Nile seemed to hide a glare in her look at Brinicle. However, the IceWing obviously didn’t notice. “I have to say, I also love meerkat as well. Such a rare treat from where I come from. That’s Snowbell City, by the way. I lived with my parents, my older sister, my two older brothers, my other brother, and my little sister.” “Oh wow! You guys sure have a lot of siblings!” Symphony said, as Nile opened her mouth to say something, who then gave the white scaled dragon a pugnacious look. “Well, my favorite color is beige. And my favorite food is seaweed rice balls! You guys should try some at the cafeteria, they really taste great!! My favorite book is the History of Pyrrhia Edition 2-” at this Nile muttered “Nerd” under her breath, Brinicle sniggered, and a hurt look mixed with anger flashed across Symphony’s face, so quick Melanoid nearly missed it, then she continued. “My favorite sport is swimming, our feathered wings make it easy to swim, and I was born in Veridia Town in the LightWing kingdom! I did live with my mom, dad, and my half-brother but I’m here now!” Nile stared at Symphony with her eyes in almond-shaped slits. “What do you mean by ‘I did live?’, do you have like, family issues or something?” Symphony glared at Nile, the hurt look from before completely replaced with fiery red fury. “Don’t try me… My family is a VERY touchy subject and if you bring it up ONE. MORE. TIME. You will be sorry!” She growled. Nile quickly replaced the smug, calculating smirk on her face with an angelic smile. “I’m SOOOO sorry! I really didn’t know it was such a… touchy subject!” As she turned away, she rolled her eyes at Brinicle, purposely positioned so that Symphony could definitely see it if she looked closely, and Melanoid realized that despite her looks, Nile was less like a dragon and more of a devil. Chapter 3 Diary and Discussion The hours leached by, the sun slowly sinking in the sky. Melanoid relaxed on her stony bed, reflecting on her first day. The drama and issues that came and went during the introductions was draining, and those strange fluttery yet mixed feelings about Nile still lingered. The rest of the day was less exciting, toured the halls, found out class schedules, eating lunch, the most normal moments of Melanoid’s day. The twilight dragon sighed, hoping tomorrow wouldn’t be as crazy. Whenever she closed her eyes to rest all she saw was Convex, Nile, even Mantas, there were so many intimidating dragons here, and there may be even more she hasn’t met. Melanoid covered her eyes with her dark feathery wings, trying to rest, but the anxiety for tomorrow began building. The worst possible outcomes came to mind whenever she thought of tomorrow, and bad images of looming dragons looking down on her sent a shiver down her spine. She peeked out between her feathers, looking around her room at her wingmates, Symphony standing out the most with her faint radiance. Seeing her soothed her worries a little, knowing she has a good friend to protect her. “Melanoid?” came a whisper, Melanoid recognizing it was Symphony’s, she lifted her head up from her wings. “Yeah?” Melanoid replied, trying to keep her voice low so no one woke up but loud enough for Symphony to hear. She heard the raspy rustling of Symphony’s sheets and the dusty thunk of something heavy being dropped onto a bed. “I got something for you before school, in case you were having problems.” Symphony’s faintly glowing silhouette slid out of her bed and padded over to Melanoid’s. She held a wine red book in her hands, with a matching red hawk quill strapped to the side. “DIARY” read the glimmering golden letters stamped across the front. “Oh my moons! Symphony! Thank you so much!,” whispered Melanoid, fluttering her wings a little in excitement. “This is the perfect place to write everything out in! You shouldn’t have.” She grasped onto the book as Symphony passed it to her, becoming mesmerized by it, opening it to flip through the smooth blank pages ripe for writing in. Symphony smiled a little, dimples deepening the Melanoid-colored shadows on her cheeks, “I’m so glad you like it!” She walked back to her bed, hopping onto it happily, ”I’m gonna head in for tonight,” she laid her head over her feathery tail, ”Good night, Melanoid.” The twilight LightWing looked up at her bright friend, then back down to her new diary, she shuffled through her belongings for a moment, pausing for a moment when she heard Stingray mutter and turn in his sleep. Eventually, she picked out a bottled up inkwell, filled with a unique type of ink. Melanoid turned to the first page of her diary, dipping the hawk quill into the ink. The pen scribbled tales of her first day and her emotions across the off-white paper, gliding smoothly with each stroke. The ink glowed in her presence, a light purple color, and when she had finished writing, the beaded, shining ink faded into obscurity as she closed the book, and headed to rest before the new day. The next morning… For the second time in a row, Melanoid was woken by Symphony forcefully pulling her warm blankets off of her and shouting “WAKE UP!” in her ear. This time Melanoid jerked up and immediately bonked crowns with Symphony. “OW!” Symphony swayed a bit and Melanoid just thudded back onto the bed, muttering murderously and trying (unsuccessfully) to snatch the blankets back from Symphony. “No, no, no! You are NOT going back to sleep! We have the first day of classes today and you aren’t going to miss the bell!” the early bird of a dragon ordered, “NOW GET UP!” Melanoid groaned, sat up with her arms outstretched like a zombie’s, and crawled out of bed, purposefully going limp so Symphony would have to work harder to drag her into her cape and to the dining hall. Halfway to the hall, Melanoid finally started moving her legs sluggishly to keep up with Symphony. “Oh, bleurgh. WHY is it so bright here? We have pre-algebra first period I don’t wanna go I wanna sleep more why do I have to go?!” whined Melanoid, slurring her words. “...You were the one who wanted to go here, you got what you wanted, so deal with the responsibilities that come with it!” snapped Symphony peevishly. They were getting closer to the dining hall and Melanoid could hear laughter and shouting coming out of it, both from the students and the irate teachers assigned to keep order in the hall. The smell of food wafted throughout the room, awakening Melanoid more than Symphony could. Her mouth watered at the thought of a delicious rice bowl, and a good meal would give her some extra energy that sleep would’ve given. “Come on! Let’s get in line and order something!” Symphony grabbed Melanoid’s forearm and suddenly, her feathers stood on end and her scales felt like they were being pricked with tiny ice shards. They passed by several tribes of dragons, a small group of IceWings here, a couple of SkyWings and MudWings there, Melanoid bumped into a clearly annoyed NightWing at one point of their trip. “Watch it, LightWing!” he snarled. “I-I’m so sorry!” Melanoid squeaked. “You just cost me my place in line!” The NightWing huffed and stormed out of the dining room. A teacher Melanoid didn’t know called “Dreamcatcher! Principal's office, now!” Seemingly having known he’s done something similar to this before. Dreamcatcher, grumbling under his breath, pounded in a different direction, in which Melanoid had never gone before. Everybody within earshot turned to stare at the troublesome NightWing, to which Symphony used to great advantage, pulling Melanoid twice as fast through the hall and popping to the front of the line. “Two orange juices, two beef-n’-onion bowls, and two fruit bowls please!” The white-aproned MudWing cook put down their order and started to chop up questionable food-stuffs. The two LightWings watched as the MudWing threw together their orders swiftly, giving them a wide smile as they handed their trays of food. “Come on, let’s find someplace to eat!” Symphony called to Melanoid as she began to hover above the polished stone floor. Melanoid followed, carrying her tray in her front talons, careful not to spill anything. They were wandering through a semi-isolated place of the dining hall with the social outcasts and the troublemakers. Melanoid looked around the dining hall and sighed. The ceiling towered over their heads, leaving lots of room for dragons to fly in. Wooden, amber-covered beams defracted the light and provided a high seat for the SkyWings. There was a clear fish pond in the center where several bored-looking SeaWings occasionally stabbed at the water. A lot of IceWings tended to isolate themselves to their own tribe, sitting at beautiful, shimmering, frost-covered tables. A custodian mopped up a spill in a shadowy corner and the NightWings crowded together, one big shadow-mass, at the tables in the far end. Centered in a circle around the middle were the MudWings at the oak tables, with a few other colors mixed in as well. And the LightWings were sitting with their unique feathery wings folded back at the highest parts of the halls. Melanoid looked up at them, wishing she could sit up there talking and gossiping and laughing, just like a normal LightWing would. Symphony would fit in so well up there, she thought. Symphony herself was looking at them wistfully, “Go on, sit with them! I’ll just sit down here and wait for you.” Melanoid said. Symphony laughed and shook her head, “If I’m going up there, you’re coming with me!” said Symphony. They flew up with trays in talon and settled on a half-shadowy part a few feet from the others. The dark LightWing squinted at the bright morning light that flooded through any windows there, she grumbled, shielding her eyes with a wing for a moment before she looked down at her food. Besides the irritance to her eyes, the sunlight did feel nice on her scales, she continued to eat her breakfast happily. Mutters filled the space between them as the LightWings pointed out the colors of their wings, and their obvious friendship. One chubby LightWing leaped over to them and hovered in front of them. “Cool! A Twilight-Blessed AND a Heaven-Blessed? Talk about a coincidence!” she said in a friendly forward outburst,”I’m Larimar, in the Moonstone Winglet!” “Nice to meet ‘cha, Larimar!” said Symphony, reaching out and shaking Larimar’s talons vigorously. “You can call me Lari! Larimar just sounds so… clunky and long!” she said, her face bearing a real wide smile. “OK, then, Lari!” Symphony squealed, obviously happy at making a new friend. Melanoid inched away from the two babbling LightWings and curled in a ball in the shadows. “Hey, what are you guys’ names?” Larimar asked, tilting their head slightly,”Hey, twilight dragon in the shadows, come on and talk! You can’t stay there forever, you wouldn’t learn anything!” Melanoid poked her head out of the grayness and whispered,“My name’s Melanoid.” “MELANOID!! I like that name! It sounds like melons, I like melons!” Larimar chuckled a little in amusement. Melanoid inhaled sharply and stated,“Oh! Th-thank you so much! Nobody’s ever said they liked my name before, well, except for Symphony.” She looked over at her bright feathery friend, Symphony smiling back at her, flicking her tail towards the new friend as if telling Melanoid to talk more. Before Melanoid could say anything more, a loud outburst of voices and paper erupted through the dining hall entrance. A group of dragons holding up flyers and various other papers rushed in, trying to get ahead of each other. Practically every dragon in the hall paused their meal to watch them go by. One dragon, a light purple NightWing, flew towards the group of LightWings. He cleared his throat, ”Hello my fellow friends! I am Futurespeaker, and I would like to ask of you a moment of your time.” He gestured with his talon as he spoke, holding out a flyer barely half a foot away from Symphony. “Um… sure?” Symphony reached out and gingerly took the flyer he was offering. Melanoid looked at it over Symphony’s shoulder, it had “Debate Club” written on it in very professional looking print. “I’d like to ask if you would take to consideration to join the Debate Club” Futurespeaker asked. ”In the Debate Club, members work together to sharpen our debating, reasoning, and logic skills.” He basically spoke word for word of what was written on the flyer Symphony held. Symphony nudged Melanoid and whispered,“Hey Melanoid, this looks interesting! Do you wanna join it?” Personally to Melanoid, it looked appealing, but she wasn’t sure if she could handle the speaking part. “No thanks, Symphony. It looks a little bit too intimidating for my tastes.” Symphony’s excited smile shifted into a disappointed frown, and gave the flyer back to Futurespeaker. Futurespeaker muttered under his breath as he took the flyer back,”Not even one? My moons.” Suddenly one sandy golden dragon rose up from the mass of wings and scales below and hovered next to Futurespeaker. It was Nile. “I would like to join the Debate Club.” she said, her eyes glittering with mysterious intent. Melanoid started at her from her shadowy corner, watching with suspicion, curiosity and… something else. Why is Nile joining? Thought one part of her brain. I must join if she’s joining! Thought another. And the last part thought, I need to join, it’s way too appealing to not join! She felt conflicted, on one talon, it would be fun, on the other, she’d have to speak in front of other dragons, the fear of them ridiculing her rushed to mind, grabbing her and pulling her under. But a bright light seemed to pull her up, and she couldn’t tell what or who it was. Maybe joining this club would make me more… courageous? She looked at Symphony, then to Nile and Futurespeaker. ”I-I.. I changed my mind, I’d like to join!” Melanoid blurted out in one big stuttering push. Both Symphony and Futurespeaker gasped,”Really?!” they said simultaneously. Symphony looked back at Futurespeaker, a little shocked that they said the same thing for a moment, then looked back at Melanoid. “This is great!” She squealed in excitement and hugged Melanoid tight. Melanoid felt warm and fuzzy all over, the excitement from her bright friend must be contagious, because Melanoid began to imagine a bright future in the club. “Okay!” Futurespeaker barged in, splitting the two up as he shoved by. A sheet of paper was slammed down onto the wooden table, and an inkwell was gently placed near it,”I just need your signatures and you’re in!” As Melanoid and Nile were finishing writing down their names on the lined slip of paper, the hollow ring of a bronze gong started echoing throughout the halls of school. Melanoid looked around seeing colorful wings and dragons rush by. ”I guess it’s time for first period,” Symphony said, standing up and collecting her tray of empty bowls. “We’d better hurry Melanoid!” Melanoid scrambled to collect her tray and things, bringing them by the tray disposal before they flew out of class. Melanoid dipped past and between the other dragons who flew out, catching a glimpse of Nile from above, who seemed to return a leer as the twilight blessed LightWing passed by. The rest of the day passed by slowly. First period pre-algebra and then hours more of history and science. Melanoid couldn’t wait until after school, where she could go to her first debate club meeting. Symphony had to whisper “Stop fidgeting, Melanoid! Pay attention to the teacher!” several times throughout the day. The sun set had forced purple lines across the sky, and the gong rang out three times. Melanoid grabbed her bag and rushed out of class and down the hall. She rushed past many of the dragons who were heading to their own clubs or rooms, pushing her way through a few crowded areas. The room was not far from her now, and as she entered the room, only Futurespeaker was there. “My moons I just got here and my club members are already bursting through the door!” the purple NightWing exclaimed to himself. “O-oh am I here too early… or something…?” Melanoid said shyly between breaths. Futurespeaker blinked,”Well, a lot earlier than I’d imagine,” he started,”But that’s great! It’s great to see an enthusiastic club member!” Just as Melanoid started to relax and chat with Futurespeaker, the door swung open and slammed behind them as 12 other members filed into the room. Rubbing his talons together, Futurespeaker spoke up,“Why don’t we all introduce ourselves now that we’re all here?” he suggested. ”Get in a circle like everyone did yesterday for orientation, and we’ll start with yours truly,” he pointed a claw at himself, looking a little showey. “This is the Debate Club, where hard-working young dragons study the fine art of debating,” he started,”It involves dragons learning how to form and present an argument without sounding angry. It involves dragons learning how to react quickly and politely to an incorrect argument.” He placed a talon onto his chest,”I am Futurespeaker, leader of this club.” Futurespeaker pointed to swirling kaleidoscope-colored dragon on the right side of him, who jumped slightly at his talon. “I’m Sinharaja of the RainWings,” he introduced,”I really like debating and when I saw this club, I knew it was right for me.” He looked at another RainWing next to them, one that Melanoid recognized from the dramatic day before. “I’m Ivy of the RainWings, two of you already know me,” she gestured to Melanoid there, Melanoid gave a little wave and Ivy smiled at her. “The reason I joined this club was primarily to get an upper hand over my stupid brother,” she laughed a little. Melanoid watched and listened as each club member introduced themselves, another LightWing named Angelite, Azure and Pisces, Fatebender, Pharaoh, Aurora and Reindeer, Schorl along with Dolomite, Circinae, Merlin, and… “And last but not least is!- Wait… where’s Nile?” Futurespeaker said, looking over his member list and back over the group,”I thought she came here with everyone else?” He jumped at the opening of the door, fumbling with his list,”Oh there you are! You’re late.” Melanoid craned her neck to see the diamond patterned SandWing walk in,”Ugh I’m terribly sorry, but I had some, well, issues getting here.” “Ah well! Next time try to get here on time,” Futurespeaker said,”You’ve missed our club introduction.” “I don’t need a silly introduction,” Nile brushed off Futurespeaker’s passive aggressive attitude,”I can figure things out on my own.” She flicked her barbed tail as she walked to sit down with the others. Futurespeaker narrowed his eyes at her, but immediately brightened his expression up. “So!” he exclaimed, clapping his talons. “Let’s start off with a test to see where you stand on the skill level of debating!” “A… test?” Melanoid asked, tilting her head slightly, many other club members murmured questions similar to hers, turning towards and whispering between one another. “Yes, a test. I’ll pair you up and give you a topic to debate about,” Futurespeaker explained,”The best debater wins, basically.” Everybody but Melanoid sighed in relief, arguing like that seemed easy. But to Melanoid, speaking-no, ARGUING in front of even one person kicked in her glossophobia. “Ok, let’s see!” Futurespeaker checked a list of parchment, no doubt pairing them up. “Melanoid and Reindeer! Nile and Fatebender! Schorl and Azure!” He continued calling out names, but Melanoid scanned the dragons for the clear blue IceWing she saw earlier. Suddenly Reindeer stood in front of her, a smirk on his face. “I’m so totally gonna beat you at this! Nobody’s better than me at debating!” Futurespeaker walked over to them and said,“Your topic will be… ‘Should Scavengers be Eaten or Kept Alive?’” Excellent! I have the upper hand, because LightWings know all about scavengers. Melanoid thought, Wait, why am I thinking like this, I’m terrified! Sh''e fidgeted with her talons, watching Reindeer approach the black board alongside her. “Everybody, gather around and watch the first debate of this year-Melanoid vs. Reindeer!” Futurespeaker announced, standing between them with a raised arm. “You can start… now!” He threw down his arm to the floor and stepped back, unblocking Melanoid’s view of her opponent. “Well, scavengers should OBVIOUSLY be eaten because they are delicious, not dragons, and also they are not sophisticated.” Stated Reindeer, holding his head up high with a grin plastered on his face. Here goes nothing… Melanoid drew in a breath,“N-no, scavengers should be kept alive because the LightWings have been studying them for y-years and the results of those studies prove that scavengers think very much like dragons.” She looked around at the crowd nervously, their eyes watching with interest. ”They build houses and create societies, all on their own. They even do stuff that looks like trading!” Melanoid said. She stuttered at first, but after that she started to enjoy it. Reindeer stared at Melanoid, silent for a few heartbeats after she was finished talking before realizing it was his turn. “Oh uh well I think that keeping scavengers alive could be a threat to the tribes,” he scrambled to get his thoughts together,” They could start an uprising! Do you not remember the Scorching?!” “That was many, many years ago!” Melanoid argued. With each word, she started to get more and more absorbed in the argument. “Also, did you not remember that Prince Smolder of the SandWings has kept a pet scavenger for many years?” She tucked her wings smugly. ”It has never shown one sign of hostility towards him. That proves that scavengers can be taught, just like dragons!” she finished, lashing her feathery tail up at the last moment for extra emphasis. Melanoid finished her argument on that strong note and smiled widely. ''I can’t believe I just did that! That wasn’t scary at all… it was awesome! “Well that was just one!” Reindeer started up again. ”Don’t you remember the four scavengers that killed Queen Oasis?” He lashed his tail side to side in excitement. ”The ones that started a twenty year war? One alone isn’t dangerous, but if we let them group together they’ll become a threat!” Melanoid frowned,“It was THREE scavengers, not four! And that was a special case! Dragons hunt and kill scavengers all the time, it’s only natural that they would try to kill dragons, just like another dragon would!” She shuffled her wings in excitement, the thrill of the debate was exhilarating to her. ”Have you seen the way they work together and build, just like dragons?” She argued, folding her wings and assuming a superior posture. Reindeer began to grit his teeth, subconsciously clawing the floor slightly with his serrated claws. “Well… well…” He couldn’t seem to think of an argument. “Scavengers are like animals! They aren’t like dragons, so they should be eaten!” Melanoid giggled a bit at his feeble attempt for a comeback. “Aren’t we all animals though?” Nile interjected from the side, her head resting on her talon as she watched the debate wrap up. “Nile, wait until your turn!” growled Futurespeaker. “So you should eat minerals and rocks? Because they aren’t like dragons?” said Melanoid, lightly like it wasn’t a big deal. “Grrrrr… Why you!” Reindeer opened his mouth and mist started to gather around it, ready to strike down a club member on the very first meeting. Melanoid widened her eyes, gasping as she flinched and threw her wings up in defence, feathers standing on end. Reindeer tried to attack, but Futurespeaker forced his mouth shut. “OK, that’s enough! Detention, Reindeer!” he told him, releasing him when the ice breath was gone. “Pshh, “detention”? You aren’t a teacher…” Reindeer hissed under his breath as he turned away. ”Don’t threaten your classmates!” Futurespeaker growled at him, shooting him a glare, “Melanoid wins this debate!” he announced more happily than when addressing Reindeer. He waved a talon at Melanoid, motioning that she should go back to the group, she noticed the shimmering ice that covered some of his claws. “Are you okay?!” the Twilight said to the NightWing,”There’s ice on your talons!” Futurespeaker looked at his talon, staring at it for a moment before widening his eyes with a small gasp. He breathed a small plume of fire onto it, melting most of it off. ”Phew I thought this was going to be a problem!” he laughed. A dark wing the color of a starry sky pushed Melanoid along towards the group of eager dragonets,”I’ll be fine don’t worry about me!” He smiled brightly, turning to pick up his list. Melanoid stumbled into the group, almost bumping into Dolomite, a quite large MudWing. “Oh.. uh.. sorry…” she apologized, tucking her bird like wings in as she stepped back, embarrassment waved over her in a hot flush, like painless fire. “What do you mean by ‘sorry’?” the deep mud colored dragon asked,”That debate was great!” Melanoid lifted her head a little higher, ears pricking up, a deep blue SeaWing sitting next to Dolomite, Azure she guessed, nodded in agreement with the larger MudWing. Melanoid blinked, confusion overtook her, They… liked my debate? They liked… me?! She questioned herself, Me of all dragons? This must be a prank. She looked around, seeing a few more pairs of eyes pinned on her like a thumbtack on cork. She began to fill with a paralyzing emotion, one that plagued her since her early days, a darkness that locked her legs and wings down holding her freedom prisoner like metal bindings. These towering dragons looked down upon her, casting shadows of unsaid doubt, hatred, ridicule, and disgust. These emotions made Melanoid feel loathed and trapped, they made her feel... Afraid “Melanoid?” The Twilight-Blessed LightWing looked up at the feeling of a talon on her shoulder, “Melanoid are you okay?” Ivy said, concern colored her scales a pastel green and blue, with slight hints of purple. Melanoid looked around, slowing her breathing, a few other dragons were looking at her, but most were focused on the debate going on in front of them. “I-I’m fine…” Melanoid sighed, brushing away Ivy’s talon away. The LightWing looked at her talons,”But, thank you…” Ivy’s colors started shifting into a pale shimmering yellow and blue,”What was happening back there?” she motioned towards the place near Dolomite and Azure. Melanoid blinked, having not realized they moved,”Oh… it's nothing, don’t worry about me.” She gave a weak smile, although the RainWing didn’t seem to buy it. “Well… if it happens again I’m always here for you, okay?” Ivy smiled, her scales turning into a usual spray of bright colors Melanoid didn’t understand. She walked back to join the crowd of onlookers as the debate going on finishes. Melanoid let out a sigh of relief, looking around to see that she was closer to the door and more in the shadows, the sky outside had begun turning orange and pink like a hide of RainWing scales. “Nice debate back there,” a smooth voice startled Melanoid from behind, she turned around to see Nile examining a glass prism,”Really destroyed that hatchling of an IceWing.” She tilted the clear pyramid slightly, reflecting a ray of colorful light at Melanoid’s eyes. The twilight dragon squinted her eyes at the blinding flash of light, the colors dancing across her deep violet scales. “What are you saying?” she asked, raising a talon to block the rainbow colored rays. “I’m saying,” Nile placed the prism back onto a dusty wooden shelf, wearing a slight smirk on her face,”That you did well, for a beginner,” the SandWing walked towards her,”But you still have a lot of catching up to do.” She gave no more than a sideways glance as she continued to walk pass Melanoid, up to the front of the classroom where Futurespeaker and Azure were standing. Melanoid’s scales rolled with sensations of electricity, emotions filled her chest and stopped words from forming, leaving her in a stunned silence. She watched Nile walk to the front, mesmerized by the suspicious SandWing once again. Why do I always feel like I’m falling from the stars when I’m around her? Melanoid asked herself. The arguments continued on for 30 minutes and Melanoid was still thinking about Nile. What did she mean by “you still have a lot of catching up to do”? Is she playing me, or is she serious? it was too much for Melanoid to take, she turned to the match between Angelite -another LightWing, and Pisces, the other SeaWing. They were talking about the system of queens, and if they should switch to the RainWing way. “After this ends, we’re done for the day!” shouted Futurespeaker. Melanoid jerked upright and looked out the window. Now the sky, previously orange and purple, was the color of her scales and speckled with glowing silver spots. Nile had disappeared from Melanoid’s mind and Symphony took priority. As the club members were leaving, Melanoid picks up her belongings and follows them into the hallway. She walked down the stone halls, passing colorful dragons on her way to her room, her heart beat faster as she thought of telling Symphony her day and hearing hers in return. The LightWing eventually got to her dorm, scraping her claws on the oak door as she entered it. “Hi guys,” she said in a very cheerful voice, her mood elevating when she saw the friendly glow of Symphony. “Hey Melanoid,” Symphony greeted, Stingray giving a wave of his talon from his bed, having a book cover his face. Symphony was hanging up her brown cape, her body emitting a glimmer that shone through the lights of the firelit glass orbs that hung from the ceiling. She turned to look at Melanoid, hopping onto her bed behind her,“How was your debate club?” she asked. Melanoid thought back, images of Reindeer rearing his ice breath, images of Dolomite, Azure, and Ivy came to mind, but the one that stood out the most was Nile’s words. “Uhh… it was… pretty good,” she said, hanging up her coat next to Symphony and Stingray’s,”I won a debate with an IceWing named Reindeer.” “That’s good,” Symphony said, preening her messy white feathers as she spoke,”My practice got a little rough.” Melanoid tiled her head as she hopped up next to Symphony,”What happened?” She examined her feathery wings, they contained some dirt and small shedded feathers. Symphony looked up to her,”I knocked into another dragon’s wing and we fell to the ground,” she lifted up a wing to show Melanoid,”No one got hurt but it did make my wings pretty messy.” “Oh no!!! What ever shall we do!?” Melanoid mocked, throwing her wings up and placing a talon to her crown very dramatically. “Oh stop it!” Symphony laughed, prompting Melanoid to join her. “Keep it down, I’m trying to do my homework, unlike you guys,” growled Stingray, peering out at them from his book. Melanoid clapped a talon over her mouth and her body shook with laughter, slowly subsiding enough to let go. “I guess we should do our homework then,” said Symphony as she pulled a green book out from her bag. She plopped it down onto her bed and began to turn pages, her eyes scanning the pages. “Aww, you’re starting your history homework first?” whined Melanoid, who flattened herself on the bed in disappointment. “I need help with the SeaWing literature,” she sighed, ”but I guess I’ll do math first.” Melanoid hopped off her bed, walking over to her bag. She dug through it for a moment, finally picking out a matching red version of the book out of her bag along with her quill and ink. Before she turned back around to Symphony, something caught her eye, and it pulled her attention back to the bag. The golden letters of her diary peeked out at her, seemingly begging her Please write in me… please. Melanoid looked at Symphony, who was completely absorbed in her history homework, and then at her own homework. “I guess this can wait for later…” she whispered, slowly putting it back into her bag, switching it with her red diary. Melanoid climbed into her bed, book and quill in claw, and began writing her day’s tales of the debate club, Reindeer, Ivy, and her feelings about Nile. Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete) Category:Fanfictions Category:Content (TreeDragon) Category:Content (Mango the Rainwing) Category:Content (Daybreak the Traveler) Category:Content (EnigmaTheHybrid) Category:Collaborations